Raw material markets have been very volatile in last years. Prices increased to the level what we have not seen earlier because of covid years and war in Ukraine, which caused lack of raw material availability and very high production cost with many raw materials. Situation is now getting slightly better towards end of the year.
Many companies have high inventories due to earlier availability issues partly also decreasing demand caused by very high inflation rate in food. Price of energy is decreasing, but it depends very much what kind of hedges manufacturers have, to cover energy for their productions. Decrease of energy prices will mainly have impact of industrial cost next year but very much is depending on how energy markets will develop during the autumn and wintertime.
Still, we must carefully follow war situation in Ukraine. For example, Khakovka dam breach has caused enormous problems for agricultural land in Ukraine, which might affect for future availability of wheat and corn from that region. There have been bank failures in United States and in Europe which causes instability for the economy. We have seen strikes in Europe for better wages because of cost-of-living crisis. We have to follow weather conditions in Europe and all over the world as El Nino weather phenomenon is intensifying and it may cause extreme weather conditions like heat waves and heavy rains. Many parts in Europe but also in the world are suffering from drought and there is lack of water resources. This might affect fast for commodity future prices. This all causes still uncertainty for the rest of the year also for 2024.